This application is generally related to means for applying surgical staples to fasten a surgical mesh. More specifically, but not exclusively, it is related to a surgical stapler having a distal manipulator for positioning a surgical mesh prior to application of the staples.
Chapters 14 and 23 of “Lichtenstein Tension-Free Hernioplasty For The Repair of Primary and Recurrent Inguinal Hernias”, pages 149-157 of “The Transabdominal Preperitoneal Laparoscopic Herniorrhaphy”, and pages 256-268 of Nyhus and Condon's Hernia, Fifth Edition, edited by Robert J. Fitzgibbons and A. Gerson Greenburg, published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, 2002, describe some procedures for repair of inguinal hernias. A sheet of monofilamented polypropylene mesh is mentioned as a material suitable for use in such procedures. After shaping and placement of the mesh in the repair site, it is sutured to adjacent tissue.
While suturing is a long-standing practice for securing the mesh, some stapling is frequently favored because of the speed and relative ease of use. At some locations desired for attachment of the mesh to tissue, stapling is possible, but holding and stapling the mesh to tissue at some other locations where attachment is desired can be challenging, if not impossible, for one pair of hands. Improvement is needed.